Experimental love

Jesus said it was the greatest commandment: “Love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.”

But what counts? Does taking care of your aging parents count? Does secretly paying for the meal of someone at another table count? Does doing your job well count? Does loving God have to hurt. What if we chose the wrong way to love? What if we try as hard as we can and we fail?

I know some people paralyzed as they try to figure this out. Or fearful. Or worried.

Think back to Monday. What if we didn’t worry about figuring out what counts as loving? What if we said, “Okay” and lived in a way that was as loving of God as we could?

What if we just try stuff?

I mean, what if we say, “God, I have no idea whether you like helping old ladies or helping young children better. So I’m going to pick helping young children because I like that better and maybe you made my likes and I’m pretty sure than helping someone is better than not helping anyone.”

What if we say, “God, I love staring at the sunset every night, and maybe you would be happier if I listened to a sermon, but I just love your skill in exterior decorating so I’m just going to love you with my heart for awhile.”

What if we say, “Jesus, I really don’t know whether I can actually love you with my whole heart because I don’t know my own heart. But I’m going to try stuff that I think you might like. Let me know if you don’t.”

What if we’re more like kids making Valentine’s cards than brokers buying into heavenly hedge funds?

Tell a friend about this post:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

About Jon Swanson

Social media chaplain. Author of "Lent For Non-Lent People" and "A Great Work: A Conversation With Nehemiah For People (Who Want To Be) Doing Great Works." Writer of 300wordsaday.com. I help people understand. Understand some of the Bible. Understand what Lent can be about. Understand what it means to follow.
View all posts by Jon Swanson →